Essay on Is Hiking Good for You

Health means that there is no disease, and it can reach a state of balance and comfort in the physical, psychological, and social. In recent years, more people have recognized the need for healthy living and they have their health believe to maintain fitness. Health promotion, which refers to the process of enhancing and improving health status, is required in a society to allow people to achieve health situation by changing their lifestyle. In the following, I will use the ‘Theory of Planned Behavior” (TPB) to address how it can link with health behavior, thus guiding people toward a healthy and dynamic lifestyle, and staying away from the threat of diseases.

TBP, a belief-based social cognitive theory, was proposed by Ajzen in 1985.This theory evolved from the “Theory of Reasoned Action”(TRA), which was put forward by Fishbein and Ajzen in 1975. TRA believes that one’s intention is tendency is the decisive factor that determines individual behaviors, while the intention is mainly formed with ‘attitude’ and ‘subjective norm’. Although TRA can successfully predict and understand behavior under the condition that one will participate in a particular action, it is known that sometimes individuals in real situations can’t control some behaviors. Involuntary factors, including internal and external, like time, resources, technologies, and cooperation, may affect. At this time, the explanation for the involuntary behaviors by TRA will be weakening. Therefore, to compensate for the deficiency, Ajzen added the variable ‘perceived behavior control’, hence forming the frame of TBP. TBP assumes that the three variables, namely ‘Attitude’, ‘Subjective Norm’, and ‘Perceived Behavior Control’ will affect each other, and behavioral intentions are mainly affected by the above three variables. Firstly, ‘attitude’, means the ability to maintain either a positive or negative evaluation of things for a long time. Fishbein and Ajzen divided attitude into two types: behavioral attitude and subjective attitude. The former refers to an individual’s view of a particular behavior, and the latter refers to an individual’s view of people, things, or problems. Subjective attitude can’t predict one’s behavior, while behavioral attitude has a direct relationship with personal behavior. For example, `` like or not like fish '' cannot predict whether one will go fishing, but the behavior attitude of `` likes or doesn't like fishing '' will affect whether he will go fishing or not. Therefore, we can predict one’s intention by measuring an individual’s tendency towards a specific behavior attitude. In TBP, an attitude refers to the behavioral attitude, which indicates the positive or negative evaluations regarding to own performance. In TBP, attitude is normally measured by the behavioral beliefs plus the outcome evaluation. Behavioral beliefs are the expected results or achieved goals when performing acts, and outcome evaluation is the personal views towards the consequences of the behaviors (Ajzen, 1985) Second, ‘subjective norm’, refers to one’s perception of the significant others who think one should or shouldn't participate in the activity (Elliot Aronson, Timothy D. Wilson, Robin M. Akert, Samuel R. Sommers, 2018). At the same time, it also implies the social pressure that an individual expects from significant others or groups by engaging in a certain behavior (Ajzen, 1991).Peer relationships in social life are the basic needs of human beings. To allow them to accept us, we may just follow the social norm or listen to others in which behaviors, values, and beliefs are acceptable. ‘Subjective norm’ is measured by the normative beliefs with motivation to comply. Normative beliefs mean the social pressure felt by the person when taking acts, and motivation to comply indicates the willingness of a person to obey social pressure. Third, it is ‘perceived behavioral control’. It refers to the degree that a person can master the process when he is expected to participate in a certain activity. Not only can it reflect the extent to which individuals have the resources and opportunities to engage in the behavior, but also the experience, together affect one to predict the possible obstacles in the activity. (Ajzen, 1991) ‘Perceived behavioral control’ is usually measured with one’s control beliefs about their performance and the perceived power that will hinder their behavioral performance. The degree of individual control over behaviors is mainly affected by internal and external factors. Internal factors include information, skill and abilities, individual differences, power of will, and adequate planning. External factors involve time opportunity, and dependence on others. (Ajzen, 1985; Ajzen, & Madden, 1986) Generally, the internal factors are more fixed and less likely to change, while the external factors are more temporary and changeable. If one owns more internal or external factors that are beneficial to the performance, the ‘perceived behavioral control’ will be stronger, which indicates the person has more assurance and this will strengthen the intention, even directly affecting the behavior. With the three variations, actual behaviors are directly affected by intentions. When the behaviors aren’t controlled voluntarily, ‘perceived behavior control’ can directly influence behaviors without intentions as the intermediary. If a person perceives that he or she has the ability and skills to engage in the activity, he will consider it easy to engage in. Oppositely, if one recognizes that there are limits to the activity, the probability of engaging in that activity will decrease.

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There are 2 health beliefs for me, which are having regular exercise and receiving seasonal influenza vaccination every year. In these years, society has promoted sports culture to ease situation of the physical inactivity. It is common to recognize governments' and NGOs’ promotions about doing sports every day on the street, on Ithe internet, and TV, with which the aware among the public of the importance of exercise. Plus my family also does sports regularly, thus which leads me to develop a habit of exercising. I mostly go running and swimming, and sometimes go hiking on weekends with my family. As my home is near a promenade and a public swimming pool, it is convenient for me to go running and swimming, while I will choose the suitable difficulties and geographic locations of the mountain before I go hiking. Although there need to pay for the entrance to the swimming pool, it is affordable for me as it only costs tens of dollars. I persist in doing sports at least three days a week though there are lot of work to do because I realize that doing exercise regularly can bring me to either a healthy mental or physical life. Many research, find that doing exercise can prevent physical deterioration as exercise can train our body, including building muscles, increasing vital capacity, and improving heart function. These can prevent us from getting chronic diseases, for instance, diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure. Moreover, doing exercise is a natural antidepressant. Since the brain will promote the secretion of happiness-related chemicals when doing exercise, this could help eliminate my depression and anxiety before exams or during downiness. It has been a long claim that seasonal influenza vaccination is effective for defending flu. With more professionals and advanced technology, predicting the influenza peak and virus is more accurate. This allows professionals to research and develop a valid vaccine, while the public cave sufficient time to take precautions beforehand. Center for Health Promotion will also announce the newest seasonal influenza vaccination to the public every year. Since I have more knowledge about vaccination, I recognize the mechanism, and symptoms that occur, like tiredness and muscle pain, and the importance of having influenza vaccination. Receiving influenza vaccination can help prevent flu and reduce the condition of illness. The inactivated or dead influenza virus in the vaccine will stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies, which can effectively prevent most virus invasions. It is known that one vaccine costs over a hundred dollars, but as long as it can protect me from illness, it is worth paying. Therefore, I will receive seasonal influenza vaccination every year to keep myself healthy.

I am going to explain what led me to the above behaviors by using the TPB. According to the above, it can be summarized that attitude is made up of behavioral beliefs and outcome evaluation. Subjective norm is made up of normative beliefs and motivation complies. Perceived behavioral control is made up of one’s control beliefs about their performance and perceived power.

Firstly, it is about doing sports. My behavioral belief is that insufficient sports will lead to physical deterioration. The outcome evaluation of the situation is whether I care about the effect of physical deterioration. As I am not willing to have a health decline, therefore it brings me to have a positive attitude towards doing exercise. 'People generally believe that exercise is good for body and mind' is the normative belief, while ‘willing to follow the social norm’ is the motivation to comply. As I think doing exercise can bring numerous advantages to my mental and physical health and will follow the social norm of exercise, the subjective norm will lead me to actively participate in sports. Other than that, ‘sufficient time, suitable place, types of sports and cost for the sports’ are the control beliefs, and ‘ impacts of these factors on performing exercise’ is the perceived power. As running and swimming only cost an hour, while hiking may take a few more hours, it may not affect the schedule of my work. Also, running and hiking are free, and hiking just only costs tens of dollars, it doesn’t affect me much. Locations are also not a matter of consideration as they are mostly nearby. The reason that I would undergo swimming, running, and hiking, but not the other sports is because they don’t require any new techniques and auxiliary tools. I know how to swim since I was small. They are not similar to sports like golf, tennis, and gym, they need to be conducted under an assigned venue, and with several tools, people playing these sports may even need to accompany professional instructors. Therefore, running, swimming and hiking are more convenient for me.

Secondly, it is about receiving seasonal influenza vaccination every year. ‘Without injecting vaccination will weaken the immune system and may easily lead to sickness’ is my behavioral belief, and ‘whether I am afraid of becoming sick’ is the outcome evaluation. Since I don’t want to be sick all the time, it brings me to a positive attitude towards vaccination. In addition, ‘society, like the health professionals claim that injecting seasonal influenza vaccination may prevent flu’ is the normative belief, while ‘ whether will listen and follow the norm about having vaccination every year’ is the motivation to comply in this situation. Since I believe the sayings of the health professions and my family members also emphasize the importance of precaution, subjective norm leads me to be vaccination yearly. Furthermore, ‘side-effects, cost, and effectiveness of vaccination, and the alternatives for vaccination’ are the control beliefs. ‘Impacts of these factors on vaccinations’ are the perceived power. As I have been receiving seasonal influenza vaccination for many years, there aren’t any complications for me. Instead, it prevents me from being sick during the peak influenza period. Although the cost of a vaccine is a bit high, I think it is cost-effective, as I believe the injection of seasonal influenza vaccination is the most effective and directive way nowadays to prevent us from getting flu. Therefore, receiving seasonal influenza vaccination is the most guaranteed way to maintain my health.

With the above three aspects (attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control), this will greatly increase my behavioral intention to do sports regularly and be andaffeinatedd every year.

To conclude, the key component of the “Theory of Planned Behavior” is one’s behavioral intention, which is affected by attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control. If the intention towards one thing is high, the willingness to practice the behavior will be relatively higher. TPB can be used to explain my health behaviors: running, swimming, and hiking regularly, and having vaccinations yearly. Due to the positive attitude towards sports and vaccination, influences by society and significant others, together with the effects of internal and external factors, this increases my intention towards achieving my two health behaviors.

Reference

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3. Ajzen, I. (1991).The Theory of Planned Behavior. Organizational Behavior &Human Decision Processes,50, 179-211.
4. Ragheb, M. G., & Beard, J. G. (1982). Measuring Leisure Attitude. Journal of Leisure Research, 14(2), 155–167. Retrieved from http://www.bwgriffin.com/gsu/courses/edur9131/activities/instrument_construction_Ragheb_Beard.pdf
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